key terms

Semiotics

  1. Sign: stands in for something else
  2. Code: used to make meaning in a media form
  3. Convention: the accepted way of doing something
  4. Dominant Signifier: something that stands in for something else
  5. Anchorage: words that give an image context

Ferdinand de Saussure:

  1. Signifier: the physical existence (sound, word, image) e.g. red/ leaf/round/ apple
  2. Signified: the mental concept e.g. fruit/ apple/ freshness/ teachers pet/ healthy

C S Pierce:

  1. Icon: they have a physical similarity to the objects they signify. e.g. photograph
  2. Index: direct relation to thing or idea e.g. smoke indicates a fire
  3. Symbol: arbitrary/ symbolic signs e.g. red rose symbolises love

Roland Barthes:

  1. Signification: process of the construction of meaning from the signs
  2. Denotation:  first level analysis (what a reader can see on the page)
  3. Connotation: meanings or associations we have with the image
  4. Myth: naturalizes events turning history into nature
  5. Ideology:  a world view about how society should function
  6. radical: out of the ordinary or something you wouldn’t expect
  7. reactionary:  follows stereotypes or something you expect

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